This invention relates to an improvement of a buckle, comprising a male member and a female member, the buckle engaging a part of the male member with the female member so that both members are engaged. For example, the invention relates to a buckle for connecting a belt-like body attached to the male member and another belt-like body attached to the female member.
A conventional buckle comprises a female buckle member having a flat tube shape and provided with an elastic plate-like part having engaging means on the inside of the leading end on one side of a broad face part by forming a pair of slits-on the face part, and a male buckle member having engaging means corresponding to said engaging means on an insertion part which is inserted into the female buckle member while bending said elastic plate-like part. (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-116413: Patent Document 1)
However, in such buckle, because one of the engaging means is provided on said elastic plate-like part which bends during the operation of engagement of the female buckle member and the male buckle member, it is necessary to increase the rigidity of this elastic plate-like part in order to make the state of connection of the two secure. However, by doing so, the elastic plate-like part becomes harder to bend during said engagement operation, and it makes this operation difficult to perform. Also, there is a need to form slits on one side of the broad face part of the female buckle member serving as the front/top side of the buckle, and accordingly, it is difficult to secure a space enough to engrave logos, and the like, on the front side of the buckle.
The main problem which this invention attempts to solve is to make the operation of connection of the male member and the female member easy, while making the state of connection after this operation as secure as possible.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.